FAQ

Updated March 15th 2014.

Premise:

In the current world crisis and the resulting global uprising, there are no magic wands able to solve our problems, nor magic formulas to help us reclaim our failed institutions. All new valid ideas and solutions are directed at the goals of people self empowerment, unity and synergy between existing movements and organizations. If there will be a solution able to empower, unite and organize the current diversity of organizations and movements, this solution will have to engage, inspire and repurpose as many movements and organizations as possible.

In an interview with Chris Hedges about the world uprising, the famous South African anti Apartheid activist and politician Ronnie Kasrills said:

“We see the anger, the rebellious spirit of people not wanting to live in the way we’re being forced to live at present,” he said. “But the question of how to come together, and the way ahead, and clarifying the enemy, is at present something we’re striving for. There are obviously groups of revolutionaries, rebels and anti-war groups around the world. But what’s lacking is the ability to define what it is that needs to be replaced. [We need] to define that for the vast multitudes, not just for those who are convening movements and protests.”

The Repeace project answers the question of what it is that unites us, why it unites us and it shows how all the other answers can be drawn from those facts. Whether you can appreciate how the concept of war has expanded into the threat of looming totalitarianism with all its various conflicts to deal with, or can simply acknowledge the limitations of defining peace too tightly to the idea of war, you may see something powerful staring at you. The most inspiring of human ideals is behind the global revolution. Properly harvested and organized, peace could soon unleash unprecedented power for all people, in all nations.

WHAT IS REPEACE ?

if you haven't seen the official 2013 Repeace video release, please take a few minutes to watch it:

Repeace is an international, non partisan, non ideological pro accountability (anti corruption) movement that empowers all social activists and unites them in vision and purpose. Repeace is able to unite existing movements, like Occupy, Anonymous, IdleNoMore, and any of the movements that have been spurn out of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, create true social empowerment and deliver something tangible, a market demand for accountability.

IS REPEACE AN ORGANIZATION?

No. Activists are not looking for another organization soliciting for yet another donation. Activists are broke and overwhelmed, divided and their time spent online is too high compared to the results they could produce. There is no shortage of either activists nor organizations, but let's be honest, every organization, alternative media and online community relies on the attention and the circle of influence they have developed and it will also try to protect that at the detriment of new ideas that could achieve more. Repeace is an idea of self empowerment that mobilizes American social activists behind 3 protests/pledges.

1. I will support businesses that focus on sustainable, local products and services, not on buying influence.2. I will support politicians who are accountable to me, not to corporations.3. I will support countries that promote and defend freedom of expression.

Those 3 protests unite not only a divided citizenry but also all progressive organizations dedicated to social empowerment. The approach "peace is the absence of fear" and the notion that "all activists realize peace" can also unite all progressive Facebook communities and movements committed to social empowerment. One of the problems we see today is that despite the large amount of activism, organizations, movements and initiatives are competing rather than trying to build synergies, and more interested in self promotion and expansion. There is an urgent need to find ideas that bring us together if the idea of activism wants to succeed.

WHAT DOES REPEACE STAND FOR?

Repeace stands for Realize peace through accountability, and frames peace as the absence of fear, and all activists as "Repeacers". The prefix "RE" could mean also Rethink peace, Repower peace or a Rebirth of the spirit of peace. The reason for a re-evaluation of the meaning of peace is due to the fact that not only people have been embracing the ideal of peace while protesting for all kinds of conflicts, but that every revolution is always about social justice, progress, peace.

What are the most revolutionary ideas about Repeace?

Occupy Wall Street, IdleNoMore, WeReChange, Anonymous are powerful ideas because every single individual can identify with them. Every activist can adopt the ideas "I am Occupy", We are Anonymous", "I am the change I wish to see in the world", "I am not taking it anymore" and make those ideas his/her own. These ideas are also cross cultural because they can be translated in every language and fit in every protest driven revolution. Ideas are the most powerful of social forces. But the goal of uniting all activist is far from simple and it doesn't address the problem of how to mobilize the apathetic, the demoted, disenfranchised.

The idea behind Repeace lies in the simple fact that all mentioned movements realize peace by default, and wish to hold accountable institutions that are causing many serious social conflicts. The act of holding accountable is shared by all protesters and is not just an inherent part of activism... social activism is a lifestyle, and there is nothing more powerful as a lifestyle, a trend, when it comes to social forces.

The idea behind Repeace is that all activists are realizing peace, and that it is fear that defines the wish for peace, not war. Activists are driven by the emotion of fear and their petitioning, protesting, organizing and sharing information is the exercise of peace. Activists project on victims of abuse (which can be citizens without work, without access to education or basic healthcare, victims of governmental abuse, repression, surveillance, and other victims of other forms of abuse, like the environment, the land, the air, the food, the seeds, etc.) their fear. This requires the ability of empathy and it makes most genuine social activists compassionate human beings. Social activists are also heroes, as defined by Social Psychology professor Phillip Zimbardo, because they are willing to sacrifice their own safety and their own liberties for the sake of helping or rescuing others.

This idea that all activists are in essence pacifists has been already manifested by the government attempts to frame Occupy protesters as another wave of dirty hippies and repress, intimidate and spy upon all forms of pacifism. According to Repeace, the idea that peace is now manifest as a matured, an evolved ideal, embraced by millions of people in distress, is the key to move us into a higher level of empowerment.

"REsist peacefully, Occupy WS protests filled with Peace iconography, Strong and direct references to the former Peace movement, with the expanded desire for freedom of expression, dissent, equality, justice, sustainability. The signs could not be any clearer.

Why is the current popularity of peace so significant ?

Because peace is the most inspiring of human ideals, it is universally understood and people are already embracing its spirit at all protests and in all nations and this has been happening all along since the Arab Spring.

People and activists are adopting protests for resolving social conflicts instead of using violence but they would certainly welcome ides that give them more assertive power. Intellectuals need to pay attention and be much more creative at producing new ideas able to carry their hopes. Chris Hedges' predictions on the approaching totalitarian state are based on realities that the main stream media is ignoring or downplaying. People who are aware of the circumstances we face are scared and disoriented. The famous Naomi Klein Schock Doctrine is in full swing in the U.S. and many other nations. Signs of fervent nationalism, intolerance versus minorities, the violent repression of dissent and the intolerance by the government of intellectual critics are all causes that make people long for new sources able to nurture their hopes. Repeace wishes to help people embrace the spirit of peace and do something very bold and global with it, something able to shake our failed institutions to the ground and bring about real change.

How does Repeace want to reach out to activists inside the U.S. and in other nations ?

Can you see that peace is primarily the absence of fear? If you can share the idea that all forms of social activism are realizing peace, independently of the antiwar issue, you are already empowered by this idea. American activists can make this idea their own now and build incredible solidarity, embrace a new bold symbol that stands for accountability, shared responsibility for all life and compassion. Next to the Repeace symbol and the 3 fingers salute (representing the 3 Repeace pledges) the first tool that Repeace uses to unite activists and repower the apathetic, the cynic, and mobilize the young generation to action is a virtual platform where the voices of the people are physically measured.

What are the 3 pledges?

Peace is an ideal we pursue together and we must have ways to promote peace that go past being kind and positive, compassionate and loving, when our governments owned by corporate masters are throwing us into misery and deeper inequalities.

People want to reclaim their failed and unjust institutions but with the growing anger that boils in their society and a police state ready to counter them in a militarized way, there are not many alternatives to peaceful protests. Senator Sanders suggests about waging a moral, a political war against the billionaires, but that is more or less what the revolutionaries in all nations are already doing. There are not many ways to unite all progressive activists behind a movement or an organization, and when they are present, they are easily divided by ideology and politics as usual, fear and doubts.

Repeace wants to defeat the evil inside our institutions peacefully, without using any protests, by turning all the anger and the resentment against the establishment into 3 straightforward, proactive and uniting online protests.

For that purpose, Repeace crafted the 3 pledges and placed them inside a design that implies that the 3 pledges are the demands measured at 3 separate protests:

These are the 3 Repeace protests/pledges

1. I will support businesses that focus on sustainable, local products and services, not on buying influence. 2. I will support politicians who are accountable to me, not to corporations. 3. I will support countries that promote and defend freedom of expression.

Instead of protesting and expecting the big and powerful businesses and government to change something they have no intention of changing, Repeace turns the demands into pledges, which include the inherent demands made at most protests in three simple statements. Whether you go to the next protests against WS, against the NDAA, GMOs, Fracking, for Universal Healthcare or in support of Bradley Manning or Snowden, you might as well click on the 3 Repeace counters, add your voice and know that IS THERE TO STAY. Because no matter whether the government may or may not do what you expect it to do, your voice is inside those 3 protests and millions upon millions of Occupy brothers and sisters or Anons can join you in those 3 pledges.

You may agree that these are things that the whole 99% can easily stand behind. Usually people see pledges and think "whatever", but not all pledges have the underlying power that these three have. The immediate goals of the Repeace pledges and protests are:

Unite all activists behind the notion that all social activism realizes peace.

Mobilize the apathetic and cynic who has given up hope.

Empower and unite a very divided society in the common cause of fighting institutionalized corruption in a positive, proactive way.

Unite all citizens as a non partisan force and let all current and new representatives know that people want transparency and accountability without compromises.

Unite all people as customers and let the institution of business (private sector) know what WE want, by creating a measurable demand for sustainable, quality products, and most important to demand them to back off lobbying for influence in government and make these businesses back their words up with facts.

Unite all humans as a new global purchase power underscoring that freedom of expression is non negotiable.

Provide an incentive for businesses and politicians to comply with the demand (offer of support)

When people go out at a protest or march against Monsanto, against corruption or against Fracking, they are hoping to get noticed by the media, represented in the news, echoed on social media and able to put pressure on our representatives. What they wish to achieve as a whole is to have the power of holding accountable businesses, politicians, government and media for letting them down on issues we shouldn't even have to protest. The problem is that there are too many causes, and people have been forced to pick a cause and give it all their time (if they have any!). Until we can appreciate the dynamics of the revolution and how to "unite our laser beams" this global movement is and will keep being a populist anti corruption movement that doesn't know how to address corruption efficiently and is therefore divided into dozen of causes.

This global populist movement needs to have the core message spelled out simply, it needs to embrace an ideal, it needs to agree on a few basic unifying actions and agreements, and have a clear direction toward which it's moving. In the USA the core agreements that are shared by most social activists are that people want money out of the political discourse, that as long as people organize peacefully, they want to have the freedom to dissent and communicate without being spied upon by the government. People want that businesses sell us organic, non GMO products, produced in a sustainable manner and mindful of supporting local economies. People have the right to know what's in their food and get proper labeling of what's not organic.

We all realize peace! ... peace for students, citizens, protesters, uninsured, food, animals, land, oceans, air. This is the idea that unites us. Repeace.com can mobilize all these great people with the anti GMOs, the Anti Fracking, the Anti Citizen United protesters, etc. in 3 minutes. People can start to find out how many they are, the 99%, by clicking on the 3 online protests (and add their name also to the global protest). How many people will be pursuing the Repeace goal to get money out of politics worldwide, beginning in the U.S.? How many are for economic justice and a future of accountability? Now people can find out by clicking, sharing, wearing Repeace symbols, waving the 3 fingers, or spreading the idea on signs.

What is the Corporations pledge for ?

(Pledge button of front page for business owners)

While the people can give their voice in the 3 main protests/pledges, the growing demand will encourage U.S. businesses and new or existing political representatives to take an informal pledge to you and make a commitment to a future of more accountability. When a business owner clicks on the Corporation button he will be prompted to fill out a form. In this form he can agree to take this pledge and sign:

"My Company hereby agrees to enter in an informal agreement to realize peace/REPEACE with our clients and all human beings. We look forward to show that our commitment to accountability will be reflected in concrete steps, including efforts to produce sustainably, responsibly and supportive of local economies."

The Repeace platform will feature the name and links of the companies that have pledged and feature them in articles that will be used to mobilize more companies, motivate more people to grow the public demand, and encourage politicians to do what's right and move to a future of accountability. Repeace realizes that an informal commitment is not much, but the hope is that it will be the many hundreds of U.S. businesses that can't afford to buy political influence that will participate in creating the movement, next to the people.

What is the Corporations pledge for ?

(Pledge button of front page for political representatives)

While the people can give their voice in the 3 main protests/pledges, the growing demand will encourage U.S. businesses and new or existing political representatives to take an informal pledge to you and make a commitment to a future of more accountability. When a political representative will click on the button, he/she will be prompted to fill out a form. In this form he/she can agree to take this pledge and sign:

"I (Representative's Name, Last Name) hereby agree to enter in an informal agreement to realize peace/REPEACE with my local, state and national constituents. I understand what conflict of interest means, and agree that this problem prevents all politicians from serving the people and their needs. I look forward to proving that my commitment will be followed by concrete steps to reject any private interests attempts to buy my political influence in the legislation of public policies."

The Repeace platform will feature the name and links of the political representatives who have pledged and will feature them in articles that will be used to encourage other politicians to follow suit, and motivate more people to grow the public demand. Repeace realizes that an informal commitment is not much, but it is a step in the right direction and a way for the public to start networking with politicians in their state, who have pledges to be more accountable. This is already a statement that the public can use to hold representatives accountable and it will start making politicians compete for votes, based on the new traded currency: accountability.

Why is it so significant to count the pledges and show them so predominantly?

There are many reasons why the 3 pledges are so central to the idea of Repeace and measuring them is the key to move us in the right direction.

The most important reason is to help people unite and build a sense of solidarity. The 3 pledges/peaceful protests go beyond political differences and appeal not only to the politically conscious citizens, but can get the attention and the voices of our youth, simply and quickly.

Anybody who has taken some basic courses in economics understands the concept of demand and offer. The pledges are not only allowing citizens to say: “We’re sick of your corrupted system, of the corporate takeover of our government, sick of unsustainable GMOs, Fracking practices, sick of the neglect of our local economies. We deserve and want to have the freedom to dissent and organize peacefully”, but they do that by creating a market demand to the two pillar of corruption, businesses and government. This approach is a significant change from traditional protests because it doesn’t leave the power in the hands of the authorities. Nobody ever knows if and how politicians will listen to our grievances and if the media will echo our demands, but IF we manage to get a reaction to these pro active demands, we will keep the power to enforce them by holding them accountable.

Edward Bernays, the father of Propaganda and author of one of the most revered handbook on mass manipulation was arguably the reason for millions of deaths and unspeakable suffering at home and abroad. His little handbook an mass control and manipulation allowed the U.S. establishment and government not only to be seen as caring and generous, when it was nothing but, but also help gain public support domestically for the overthrow of several real democracies in South America and most of its 20th century wars. The ghosts of communism and socialism were basic tactics to ignite fear in the population and grow support for illegal wars. However, Bernays’ nifty little book, didn’t just share its findings with the Establishment but with all of us.

There’s a passage that is particularly significant to the 3 Repeace pledges and the reason they’re being measured.

The new propaganda, having regard to the constitution of society as a whole, not infrequently serves to focus and realize the desires of the masses. A desire for a specific reform, however widespread, cannot be translated into action until it is made articulate, and until it has exerted sufficient pressure upon the proper law-making bodies. Millions of housewives may feel that manufactured foods deleterious to health should be prohibited. But there is little chance that their individual desires will be translated into effective legal form unless their halfexpressed demand can be organized, made vocal, and concentrated upon the state legislature or upon the Federal Congress in some mode which will produce the results they desire. Whether they realize it or not, they call upon propaganda to organize and effectuate their demand.

The U.S. government is completely owned and subsidized by Wall Street, the energy, the defense, the pharmaceutical, the insurance and other top tier industries and those own the media. Let’s be clear about this: our demands are not something they wish to respond to because in order to keep control and increase their profits they rely on the suppression of the public sentiment. They have relied on the suppression of some basic truth about the public sentiment while selling us some phony ideas of caring to bring freedom and democracy to other nations.

The fundamental conflict that keeps us stuck is their ability to avoid the central truths about democracy, which imply that democracy is based on a representation of the citizens by representatives who ought to be accountable to the people. The fundamental rules of the game of democracy are the ability to dissent and redress based on the sacrosanct principle of freedom of expression.

Allowing the 99% to unite and reflect on these fundamental principles and providing a measure of their demands will completely shatter the wall (or rather lift the veils) of a fake, contradicting and non representative democracy, that lacks true freedom of expression, the right to privacy and is completely rigged by corporate interests.

If everything seems upside down is because of the establishment has permitted for the basic foundations of the rules of the democratic game of power to be destroyed a long time ago, and with the complicity of the main stream media has prevented an open debate on it. Now the same idea of democracy is sold to us to wage wars and bring freedom to other nations, but there’s no way that anyone capable of critical thinking won’t appreciate the blatant hypocrisy behind it.

The establishment has redefined freedom, democracy, and peace. It is forcing us not only to accept their twisted definitions but to trust them to be fully capable and competent in pursuing those ideals in our interests. Measuring simple statements behind the 3 pledges and holding up to our authorities the counts, will clearly and loudly tell them:

You failed us, we’re not going to take it anymore, and united we’re making new rules of the game. (Isn't it ironical that the rules of the game we demand are nothing but revolutionary?)